CTA PUTS BRAKES ON REPAIRS

Gary Washburn, Transportation writerCHICAGO TRIBUNE

In a cost-cutting move that could cause more service interruptions for riders next year, the Chicago Transit Authority said Monday that it has begun delaying some bus and train repairs that are unrelated to safety.

Meanwhile, fewer vehicles will be provided for special events in another money-saving measure that the CTA said could mean longer waits for riders after festivals, concerts and parades.

The revelations surfaced at a CTA board committee meeting in which agency department heads discussed their plans to cope with a 1992 funding shortfall expected to reach at least $27 million.

The CTA in recent months has gone from a preventive maintenance strategy to a ''reactive maintenance'' approach, delaying some repairs that are unrelated to safety, said David Hillock, the authority`s maintenance chief.

Body work, repairs of leaky roofs and fixing of seats and other interior components are being postponed on old buses, and the CTA may increase the time between inspections of these vehicles from 4,000 miles to 6,000 miles, Hillock said.

Because engine oil and transmission fluid are changed at the time of inspection, ''we`ll probably be pushing the limit on the manufacturers`

standards,'' he said.

Bus engines currently are replaced after logging 250,000 miles, but they may be kept in service until they fail under the tightening financial conditions, officials said.

So far, the change in maintenance procedures has not had a significant effect on service, Hillock said, but he said that vehicles could break down more frequently in the coming months as the new policy remains in place.

Cost savings, projected at roughly $9 million, will come mostly in the form of employee wages, he said. All but emergency overtime was eliminated in the maintenance department earlier this year, and that policy will remain in effect in 1992.

CTA Chairman Clark Burrus cautioned the staff not to defer maintenance so long that equipment ultimately requires costly rehabilitation instead of simple repairs.

New York`s transit authority faces a $600 million budget shortfall next year, but officials there have no plans to change what they believe are successful maintenance practices, said spokesman Bob Previdi.

For about the last two years, the authority has been replacing components before the end of their average life expectancies to avoid service disruptions, he said.

The mean distance between bus failures has risen from 8,000 miles in the early 1980s to about 40,000 miles now, Previdi said. New York officials believe their strategy has been cost effective, allowing reductions in both maintenance forces and the number of spare vehicles required, he said.

Hillock said that the CTA`s deferred maintenance policy does not apply to new buses that are being delivered this year, and he emphasized that safety will not be compromised.

Though the CTA is getting 961 new buses this year, there are no immediate plans to replace any of the 1,200 remaining coaches in its fleet because of a funding shortage, officials said. That presumably will result in increasing mechanical problems as those vehicles get even older.

Not counting the new buses, the average age of the CTA fleet is 11 years, Hillock said. The 500 oldest buses in service have been on the street for 16 years.

The CTA should be replacing 200 coaches annually ''for the next 5 or 10 years,'' said Executive Director Alfred Savage. The lack of money to do that

''is not the best news,'' he told board members.

Meanwhile, Lonnie Hill, the CTA`s operations chief, said that the growing number of special events in Chicago has put an increasing financial burden on the transit authority.

The CTA may break even on extra service it provides to the biggest of the events, such as Taste of Chicago, as increased ridership offsets the expense of additional vehicles and overtime pay to drivers, Hill said. But extra expenses, including the cost of supervisors to assist in reroutes, makes smaller street festivals and parades money-losers, he said.

The practical effect of the CTA`s 1992 financial problems means that special events probably will get fewer vehicles, officials said.